Raindrops On Roses
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day eight hundred and sixty-five: top 16, number 13: Six-year-old Rachel meets her match for enthusiasm as she attends the sing-a-long Sound of Music.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 41st cycle. Now cycle 42!_

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><p><em><strong>INTRODUCING "CHEAT SHEET" - <strong>If you want to know ahead of time when a certain series will be updated next, just reassemble the link below and check out the list, save it, print it, bookmark it, whatever you need!  
>Go to: <span>gleekathon [dot] tumblr [dot] com [slash] cheatsheet<span>_

_** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 42 CHEAT SHEET **_

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><p><strong>Countdown cycle #4 - <strong>Yes, it's that time again, where I select 16 favorite things (characters, ships, friendships...) from Glee and give them each a ficlet, and a chapter fic for #1. The previous countdown cycles, if you want to check them out, were c10 [days 190-210], c25 [days 505-525], and c29 [days 589-609]. Like the last countdowns, the #1 story is split in 3 blocks, the chapters posted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays over these three weeks, with #16 to #2 from Thursdays to Mondays.  
><strong>Coming in at #13...<strong>

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><p><strong>"Raindrops On Roses"<br>(Young) Kurt & Rachel (& Parents)**

She wasn't going to be Maria; maybe in a year or two. And she may have been closer to Gretl's age in reality, but that wasn't going to do, not her and not Marta either, no… This year, her second time going, she was going to be Liesl. Ever since her fathers had entered the concept of dressing up as one of the characters for the occasion, it had been all she could think about. Then they'd gotten her that dress, oh, that beautiful dress, that flew out so magically when she would spin around, and she was sold. She was not sixteen going on seventeen, but once you removed a 'teen' from the equation, then there she was. And today, with her fancy dress – cared for with the utmost care – her clean shoes, and her hair done right, she was a miniature Liesl, ready for the sing-a-long Sound of Music.

After sitting like a prim little lady in the back seat, silent in order to 'preserve her voice,' they had arrived and she was… in musical heaven… So many people, so many of them dressed up, as she was. She could identify who they were, on sight. Not everyone was dressed up, which her fathers had promised was normal, though she maintained the right to shake her head at them in disapproval.

"Can we go in now, can we go to our seats?" she begged, pulling on either of her fathers' arms.

"Hold on, they're just opening the doors now, see?" Hiram told her, and she looked.

"Can I hold the tickets then?" she let go of his hand, held hers out.

"I've got them," Leroy spoke up, and she turned to him. "I'll give them to you, but you have to be careful not to drop them, alright?" he pulled them from his jacket pocket.

"I swear," she crossed her heart, then presented her hand again with a wide smile.

"How can I say no to that face?" he shook his head, placing the tickets in his daughter's hand, touching her cheek. Rachel looked to the tickets, silently sounding out the words.

When the doors did open, they lined up to present their tickets and enter. Rachel held out the three tickets to the man, watched him tear off the end, and then hand her the rest. She thanked him, like she'd been taught, and then they went into the room. It was a good thing Leroy still held on to her hand or she would have taken off at a dash.

"Where are we sitting?" she asked, giddy, as they went off to find their places.

"Do you want to sit between us?" Hiram asked.

"It's okay," Rachel shook her head. "You two can sit together. You need to hold his hand when they do 'Climb ev'ry mountain,'" she told him, looking to Leroy; she had a point. So she sat on the rightmost seat of their assigned three, with Hiram at her left and Leroy next to him.

It was as they sat that another trio started to make its way down the row, from the other aisle. The man looked like he didn't really want to be there, even though he would still do it, maybe to make his son happy. The woman touched his arm with a smile – thank you for coming, it might say. Ahead of them came the boy, looking as eager as she did, and also dressed up. He was definitely one of the boys, and though harder to pinpoint, she would put her money on him having come as Kurt.

They ended up seated one next to the other, in a move which placed the uncertain father in between his son and his wife, a move which might have been to keep him from leaving. She didn't know the boy, but neither of them could ever be deemed shy, so it was no more than a minute after they sat that she turned to him and greeted him with "I love your costume."

"Thanks, I love your dress. Perfect Liesl," he declared, and she beamed.

"I thought so, too! I mean, thank you," she caught herself. "And you're a perfect Kurt," she decided to make her claim, inwardly hoping she was correct.

"Thanks, I try," he had this curious little smile when he said it, though she couldn't get the joke.

They carried on observing one another's costumes, talking about the movie, declaring how many times they had seen it – eleven for her, nine and a half for him after he'd had to stop midway once – and how they longed for the days when they couldn't keep count anymore. This was his first time attending the sing-a-long, and upon discovering this Rachel had become even more excited, sharing her experience as a second-timer to guide the boy. All at once they had forgotten either of their parents; they were here with a friend.

Then the lights dimmed and the movie began. Rachel and the boy Kurt both clapped, then laughed when they saw the other had done it as well. They both had a tendency to try and move their arms just as they did on screen, the most complicated of which being extending their arms for the very first song. Their voices would fade in the din of the sing-a-long crowd, but with that six-year-old pitch, they'd still say they could hear one another, and they were impressed.

Suddenly the already exciting event, for both of them, had become something even more memorable. At the first appearance of the children, they'd both sat up, pumping their arms when their counterparts announced themselves. Rachel would sing along with Liesl as though it was her on that screen. She knew all the words, her father always saying she had 'an ear for these things,' and in her young mind she had been confused, searching her head for such an ear, unless they meant one of her two known ears…

At intermission – they'd stopped the movie halfway – the four parents had gone to stretch out their legs, while Rachel and the boy had remained, talking on and on about the half that had passed, and the half that was to come. With the movie resumed, they were right back at it, singing and moving… When 'Climb ev'ry mountain' had come along, Rachel had giggled, pointing out her fathers to the boy. He laughed as well, and then they carried on listening, singing… As the movie ended, the two children clapped happily, like they would not mind having a second go at it, but it was done, and they had to leave.

They had parted ways just as they'd come in, following their own aisles, their own parents. Somehow it hadn't occurred to them to exchange phone numbers, something, allowing them to stay in contact. Of course time – and their living in the same area – would bring them back in each other's universe. But even when they did it wouldn't dawn on them… their first meeting, the connection they'd developed in just a few music filled hours… Even then, one day they would find their way to this friendship again. The time in between would be nothing but a delay.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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